TULKAREM, Palestine

Palestinian residents accused the Israeli army on Monday of destroying the Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank amid a deadly assault in the area.

The army staged a military raid in the camp on Sunday, forcing residents to flee amid attacks that killed at least three people, including a pregnant woman, according to the Health Ministry.

Sounds of explosion and gunfire can be heard across the area amid the Israeli assault.

“The situation is catastrophic in the camp,” Ibtisam Abu Zahra, a resident, told Anadolu.

The Palestinian woman and her husband were forced to flee the Manshiyya neighborhood in the camp after the Israeli raid.

“The Israeli army stormed our house and relocated us to another house. They also arrested a number of residents and forced us to leave,” she said.

Ahmed al-Izza, an elderly Palestinian, said Israeli forces imposed a movement ban in the camp.

“Israeli soldiers stormed our houses and forced us to leave,” he said.

“Destruction is everywhere in the camp. Residents who remained are waiting for their turn,” he said. “The camp is surrounded and Israeli forces are raiding all houses.”

Assad Abu Zahra was forced to flee the Manshiyya neighborhood with his mother.

“Around 40 soldiers broke into the house and destroyed everything,” he said.

“Today, we are living a new Nakba, like the one lived by our people in 1948,” he added.

The Nakba, or catastrophe, is a term used by Palestinians to describe the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians by Jewish gangs in 1948 to make room for Israel’s creation.

Jenin Deputy Governor Mansour al-Saadi said Sunday that more than 20,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by the Israeli assault in the city.

The Israeli raid in the Nur Shams camp was the latest in a broader offensive that targeted Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas in the northern West Bank, leaving more than 30 Palestinians dead since Jan. 21.

Tension has been running high across the occupied West Bank, where at least 910 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 others injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Health Ministry.